When to go & weather

Weather

Saskatchewan is at the very heart of the prairies; the wheat fields stretch out for miles and there is often little topographical change. Flat it is, barren it is not; the flowing grassland of the south morphs into wooded glades in the north that seem to go on forever.

The hot (up to 35°C) and short summer makes for great traveling weather and excellent thunderstorm viewing. There’s nothing like watching a storm roll in: the azure-blue sky turns dishwater gray and finally to hockey-puck black, then the rain starts to fall thick and fast. Just watch out though, as that rain can turn to hail – this is, after all, the ‘Land of the Living Skies’.

Winter has been known to arrive in October and stay finger-numbingly cold (down to as low as -40°C) until April; it doesn’t snow a lot, but it will snow early and it will stick around. As the saying goes, it’s ‘colder than a well-digger’s ass.’ Most locals will tell you there isn’t really a spring or a fall, and they’re right: the summer–winter transition is a quick one.